The Missoni couple and their friends had been on vacation in the Los Roques archipelago starting on Dec. 28 and had been scheduled to return to Italy on the night of Jan. 4.

The location of the aircraft came one week after Venezuelan authorities found another small plane that had disappeared on Jan. 4, 2008, with 14 people on board, including eight Italians. That flight had gone missing when the plane was en route from Caracas to Los Roques.

Los Roques, some 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Caracas, is one of Venezuela's main tourist destinations. EFE